JOURNEY

CHAPTER 1

JOURNEY

I was lost.

I was proving myself.

~×○×~

It was cold. He never felt this cold in his whole life. The snowstorm was roaring between the sound
of screams and blasts, explosions and the clanking metal.

All around him were armored men, screaming while melted by the fire breath from the men with
wings protruding from their back and horn on their head. He also saw a bunch of soldiers running
towards an escaping group of people that had the exact same wings and horn. Suddenly he heard a
scream not far from his side.

He saw a woman hugging a little girl, protecting her from the soldier that came to take her away.
Not wasting any time, he ran toward them and shoved the soldier away from the woman and her
daughter. Her wings were shaking with fear.

“Run!” he said to the woman.

He went back to the soldier, just in time to catch him swinging his sword towards him. He dodged
and slammed his fist to the soldier chest, making him fly a few meters from him with broken chest
plates.

He ran toward the group of soldiers, spreading his wings as a sign to attack them. He took his shield
from the ground on his way. He could feel the heat from his throat, at the same time as a yellow
bright circle with scripts and symbols showed up in front of his mouth.

He breathed out a loud roar and the fire burst appeared, spreading toward the soldiers. He saw
them being melted after they got hit from his flames. But more soldiers came toward him.

He looked at the other humanoids. Some of them were trying to defend themselves while others
tried to attack the army. He ran toward them and with his shield charmed with a spell in it. He
shoved all the army, and after that, he took his sword.

“GO, I’LL DISTRACT THEM!” he shouted to the brunette guy with silver colored wings.

“ARE YOU NUTS, PUNK?!” he shouted back.

“IF WE KEEP HOLDING OURSELVES, THEY WILL CATCH ALL OF US.”

“ALRIGHT, I GOT YOUR BACK!”

“NO! YOU NEED TO LEAD THE REST TO THE SAFE AREA AND MEET DAD THERE!”

“WHAT! HOW ABOUT YOU?”

Before he could answer, a dark magic arrow flew toward them. They jumped to the opposite
direction, he mouthed something as the strange script showed up and covered his sword. The sword
glowed and burst a blue fire with lightning. He swung the sword toward the army and the blue fire
spread to them.

“GO!” He shouted again to the brunette.

With hesitation the brunette ran toward the humanoid group and flapped his wings, signaling them
to start to fly away. As the group of humanoids flew, the brunette looked back to him and mouthed
‘keep alive.’He nodded and looked back to the army, adjusted his sword and shield.

He ran toward them, swinging his sword to the army. He swung from the downside to the up, gave
the blast of blue fire to them and he swung his sword to his left side, stopped a sword to hit him. He
breathed fire to the soldiers in front of him.

When he thought that the situation was siding with him, a man with dark silver armor and a black
coat with a weird red octopus symbol on his back appeared. He looked at him with amazement and
greed. He shivered under that gaze, and he knew that he was in great danger.

“You are going to be my greatest collection.” The man said.

He mouthed something to the sword. A magic circle appeared on the sword, and he stuck the sword
to the ground. An orange chain appeared from the blade to his left ankle and tied it firmly.

In his view, all soldiers looked smaller and smaller. Fear started to appear on their face, but that man
still looked at him. His face was getting more and more amazement and greed.

He breathed a blast to the soldiers, and everything changed into a sea of fire.

~×○×~

“Shit.”

A brunette guy tried to lift his legs, buried too deep in the snow while he walked. He fixed his bag
and resumed walking. The cold started to crawl to all of his body.

“That damn Howard, I'll make sure that he will taste my payback,” the brunette muttered while he
kept walking in the middle of the snowstorm. He looked around and was hoping he could found a
cabin or a cave for a night.

On his way, he found a sword stuck in the snow, standing straight while there was a body lying
beside it. The brunette thought it was probably a criminal or slave who ran away. However, when
the brunette paid more attention to the body, he was sure he saw a horn on the head and wings
spread on the back. A humanoid? Shapeshifter? The brunette thought.

When the brunette took a better look to the sword, he could see there was an orange chain tied
between the blade and the ankle of the body. Magic! The brunette went closer to the sword but
stopped when he almost touched it.

“What am I thinking?! It’s not even my business.” He said and turned away, “He’s probably already
dead.”
The brunette started to walk away, leaving behind the sword and (probably) dead body. He had an
important thing to do, and he didn't want to waste his time on someone else. He had a payback to
do.

But, everything didn't go as he expected. He went back to the body, almost covered by wings. He
lifted them a bit and he was shocked when he found a naked body underneath.

A naked man with the most impressive shape of muscle he had ever seen. He shoved aside that
thought and brought his hand to the man's neck. He could feel a weak pulse from there.

He turned the man and adjusted his wings, so they covered him. The brunette felt awe by the
appearance of the man. He had a blond hair and sharp jaw, aside for the horn, the wings, and a scaly
tail.

A Dragon shifter?! He never thought he would see one (in his entire life). The dragon-shifters were
known as the living legend, for it was said they existed, but at the same time have never been seen.
In fact, they alienated them self from the outside world.

Hence, it was rare to meet one of the dragon shifters, especially this handsome shifter. He shook his
head. It is not the time!

Checking the man’s condition, he figured out he needed to find a place to rest and warm-up for the
both of them, or they would probably die in the middle of the snowstorm. He had to search a place
to rest for both of them. However, he realized that he could not move the man while he was chained
to the sword by the magic.

The brunette moved to the sword and grabbed the hilt. He knew that the sword might not move by
any inch because it was already covered by magic, but it was worth to try. He tried to pull the sword,
but it didn't even budge.

He kept pulling and pulling till he felt something weird coming from the weapon. The sword started
to glow in orange and yellow light. The brunette also realized the air around them was getting warm.

Suddenly, a mysterious script flew around him. The brunette also noticed the snow at his feet
started to melt, leaving a green grass that grew fast. With one last pull, the brunette finally freed the
sword. The chain that tied between the sword and the man’s ankle was gone in a cloud of dust.

He felt warm, really warm in the middle of the snowstorm. He looked back to the man and surprised
that there was a shield near the man's body. He put the sword on the ground but, the warmth was
suddenly gone replaced by the cold that hit him hard.

He took the shield, hung it on his backpack, and he lifted the man so he could piggyback him, then
he picked up the sword. It’s warm.

“Ok-ok, let’s go to somewhere safe.” He adjusted the man and looked around to search a place for
rest. In the distance, he saw a dark shadow far from him.

It may be a cave. The brunette thought and he started to walk towards it.